September 18, 2002 ADEPT Minutes

Updates

1. Since we have not met for a couple of months due to the Summer Institute and Academy, everyone gave an update on what they have been doing and have going on right now (Since this happened later in the meeting, Amy was not present to give her update):
   • Dan has been busy all summer with the Summer Institute/Academy. He also was working on the GU Conference. After all that he took a much needed vacation and now is looking at a Summer Academy Newsletter that needs to be published, the YAL conference, and working on the Learning Village more.
   • Colleen has been developing the GU connection to the Consortium. She has found them willing to do more tasks than we have been asking in the past for little or no extra money (for instance they are willing to follow-up groups of students in our programs). She has also been developing the GU evaluation group into a body that does research in addition to its duties in data collection. She will be involved with YAL as well.
   • Emelda worked with Dan much of the summer on the Summer Institute/Academy. She has been serving on the Resource Center Redesign Committee, will be involved with YAL, and will be documenting with video the goings on in Anne's classrooms.
   • Steve has been working on the various grants that have gone out during the summer (Community Technology Centers, SBC Excelerator, and Nat'l Geographic Venture Grant) and has put up an ADEPT Weblog for the group to use. Currently he is taking the 2000 Census data and putting community profiles together for the communities we currently have networks in. He is also supporting Troy in gathering data for the upcoming Upward Bound RFP process.

Discussion:

1. Since Emelda is on the Resource Center Redesign Committee, she brought us an issue to discuss regarding the possible location of ADEPT staff together in a single space in the renovated CTC:
   • The consensus seems to be that we all want to sit together as it would facilitate the work that we all individually do and make for better support of CTC in general. This would include all present at the meeting (Amy, Colleen, Emelda, Dan, and Steve) as well as (if they want to) Pat S., Syed, Andy, Ray. Others may be included in the area, but these were the ones mentioned.
   • The activities that would go on in such a space would include:
     • grant writing
     • video production/soundwork
     • access to the wealth of knowledge available to staff (w/assistance)
     • presentations/meetings - space with facilities for phone conferencing, video review, computer work (includes VCR and/or a CD-DVD player, projector and laptop, screen, computer drops or wireless network)
     • development of various publication (video, print, digital, etc)
     • individual workspace that allows for both focused individual work and interaction with other members of the team
   • The general feel of the space should be "high-tech":
   • user friendly
   • centralized & organized
   • digitally rich
   • Communication is important to the work that ADEPT does. We discussed the need for a way to make available the resources that we all individually have for the entire team and CTC as a whole. The public's access to the information we have could be facilitated through an interactive "kiosk" - a computer that has a database linking to all the grants written, publications, etc. so that they can be printed to a nearby copier. It should be idiot-proof. This could also have resources for teachers such as grants that are available for them to apply for. There should also be racks of information for people to peruse as they wait or whatever.
   • It would be nice to have video installations around the center at strategic sites with tape loops running of our most current work for anyone to see. Headphones could be used to keep the sound private.
   • Do we need a Knowledge Management person hired or assigned to this task at CTC? It seems as if our greatest resource is our individual knowledge, but that knowledge often gets trapped, unavailable to the whole of CTC. Maybe somehow the way in which the space for ADEPT is constructed could facilitate the exchange of information/knowledge at CTC.
   • All the computers in the ADEPT area should have compatible platforms to facilitate the exchange of information.
   • We will absolutely need lots of file-cabinet space. Even though we hope to have all grants, publications, etc in digital format, there will always be the need for hard copies to be stored somewhere.
2. Annual Report or OASIS? We had a discussion about which one has higher priority on the ADEPT agenda.
   • The creation of a data collection system is on the personal priorities for Wendy - it is a part of her annual work-plan that was submitted earlier this year. This alone seems to place developing a plan for developing a data collection system high.
   • Maybe we should make a stab at an Annual Report since the prospect of completing a project of the scale of OASIS seems daunting. An Annual Report could be a good first step toward understanding what is going on at CTC. The holes in data collection that we uncover as a result could provide a good argument for the expense and effort of creating a larger data collection system.
   • An AR could help develop a strategic plan for CTC.
   • It seems like we need a full-time data mgt person at CTC. We would need to make sure his/her job description was clear so that s/he does not get swamped with other work. They should be part of a larger vision to create this data collection system as a whole.
   • We need an outside person to help with the creation of a plan to create an Annual Report since none of us have ever completed one before. Maybe someone at NEIU could help - from the marketing department?
   • Consensus - Use an AR to help us step toward creating a plan for a larger data collection system.
3. Part of the discussion at the meeting that Emelda had previously attended asked how ADEPT might help CTC more visible to funders, teachers, students, etc. This launched us into a discussion of research publications v. marketing publications; what fed gov regs regarding research supported models might look like in the future vis a vis our own work; and how publications are produced (or not produced) at CTC. We decided that we should make a timeline and a plan for the type of publications CTC should be producing. This would include an Annual Report and maybe a marketing plan.

Next Steps:

1. Emelda will look into Lipman-Hearne as a possible consultant on the AR.
2. Dan will look into the types of publications that CTC has produced in the past and the ones we should be thinking about.
3. Steve will look into the developing governmental regulations regarding wualifying research-supporting education models.
4. Steve and Amy will make sure to continue the discussion about the AR with Wendy at their meeting on Monday.

Agenda for next meeting (tentatively set for October 2 @ 10:30)

1. Begin thinking through a publications plan
2. Discuss timeline for the completion of an Annual Report
3. Other stuff important to people